Public refusals by two U.S. Senate Republicans to support Betsy DeVos, Trump's pick for education secretary, raise the possibility of a rare congressional rejection of a Cabinet nominee.

The Senate confirms Rex Tillerson as secretary of state while committees approve Jeff Sessions, one of Trump's most controversial Cabinet selections, as attorney general, as well as two other nominees.

Evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr. will head an education reform task force under Trump and is eager to cut university regulations, including rules on dealing with campus sexual assault.

TRAVEL BAN

U.N. human rights experts warn that asylum seekers could face torture if not given haven and the Vatican calls for openness to other cultures, adding to a drumbeat of criticism of Trump's travel curbs.

Trump's travel restrictions on people from seven countries could dampen international enrollment at U.S. colleges, at a time when they have become increasingly reliant on tuition revenue from overseas students.

IRAN

National security adviser Michael Flynn delivers a tough warning to Iran for test-firing a ballistic missile and declares "we are officially putting Iran on notice" for what he called a provocation.

Defense Secretary James Mattis is expected to underscore security commitments to South Korea and Japan on his debut trip to Asia this week as concerns mount over North Korea's missile program and tensions with China.

STATE DEPARTMENT

Rex Tillerson, confirmed as secretary of state on Wednesday, saw his job became harder before it even began because of administration moves that have antagonized Muslim nations, European allies, Mexico and U.S. bureaucrats.

DISSENT

A memo signed by 900 State Department employees objecting to Trump's immigration plan is just one example of resistance spreading through the federal bureaucracy.

EUROPE

Britain's closest European Union allies are galled by Prime Minister Theresa May's embrace of Trump and fear London is tilting too heavily toward him ahead of Brexit.

CRIME

A pastor who met with Trump says the president will take a "proactive" approach to dealing with violence in Chicago that does not involve simply locking people up.

(Compiled by Bill Trott, Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and James Dalgleish)

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The U.S. Education Department under President Donald Trump and Secretary Betsy DeVos has stopped cancelling the student-loan debt of people defrauded by failed for-profit schools and those borrowers face mounting interest and other burdens, its inspector general said on Monday. DeVos is seeking to redo the process for cancelling the debts of people who attended Corinthian Colleges, which collapsed in 2015 amid government investigations into its post-graduation rates, and other failed schools. In the final days of his administration, President Barack Obama approved rules speeding up the debt cancellations.

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